Abu Dhabi’s New Cruise Terminal to Welcome MSC Lirica

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), working in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) and Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT), opened a new tented cruise terminal at Mina Zayed, the Emirate’s main port. The MSC Lirica will be the first ship to use Abu Dhabi as its homeport. It will first arrive on Oct. 29 and operate 19 seven-night cruises around the Arabian Gulf.

The new facility, on the site of the former ADTA visitor information center, spans some 2,000 square meters and comprises two dedicated halls -- a luggage-handling facility, and a passenger center with a waiting lounge, security section, prayer rooms, offices, visitor information center, currency exchange and customs and immigration facilities. The terminal is capable of simultaneously accommodating 1,300 passengers.

According to ADTA, the arrival of MSC Lirica is expected to bring a significant boost to Abu Dhabi’s cruise traffic which is already being aided by increased deployment of larger capacity vessels by existing operators. The tourism authority has prioritized cruise tourism as one of its five 2011-12 strategy pillars.

“Cruise shipping has enjoyed strong recession-proof growth for many years,” said Mubarak Al Muhairi, director general of ADTA. “The market obviously ranges between low-cost volume cruise business and very high-end exclusive cruises. Abu Dhabi is targeting the higher-end segment.”

In line with its long-term cruise ambitions, ADTA is planning to construct a permanent, purpose-built cruise terminal at Mina Zayed. “Ultimately our capacity to build the cruise tourism business will rely on a combination of good planning, good infrastructure, strong marketing and industry co-operation,” Al Muhairi said. “With this in mind, we now have government approval for the concept of a world-class cruise terminal, which is required if we are to fulfill our ambition of becoming a homeport of choice. We have singled out three possible sites in the Mina Zayed vicinity and have commissioned technical feasibility studies into these. Once these are complete, we will go to the design stage.

“We intend to make the permanent facility truly world-class,” Al Muhairi said. “We realize we will be servicing new-generation vessels that need ashore the same high-level facilities the passengers experience on board. We have strong hopes of the cruise business continuing to grow into the future with longer term projects for 300 calls and 600,000 passengers by 2030.” In the 2010-11 cruise season, Abu Dhabi received 78 calls with around 140,000 passengers disembarking.

MSC Cruises will join Costa, Aida and Royal Caribbean in Abu Dhabi. These lines will bring around 170,000 tourists to the city before the season ends next April, said Martijn Van de Linde, ADT’s CEO. For more information, visit www.abudhabitourism.ae.

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